The present invention relates generally to wireless communications devices, and particularly to wireless communication devices configured to access network-based services and applications.
There are many different network-based services and applications available to users. For example, Social Networking Services (SNS) are services that allow a user to create and join an online community of people and acquaintances who share similar interests and activities. Most SNSs are web-based services and provide a variety of ways for users to interact with each other. For example, some SNSs such as FACEBOOK, TWITTER, MYSPACE, and LINKEDIN, provide their respective users with e-mail capability and instant messaging services. Some SNSs also provide their users with a dedicated space (e.g., a “wall” on a FACEBOOK page) on which they can write messages to their community at-large, or receive messages from others. For example, users typically post periodic status updates to keep other people in their on-line community abreast of their current activities.
Users have historically accessed such network-based services, such as the social networking sites, from Personal Computers (PCs) such as desktop and laptop PCs; however, many vendors now provide mobile applications that execute on a user's cellular device to allow the user to interact with their services. These applications are typically graphics-rich and communicate with the servers hosting the services using a proprietary protocol. Therefore, such applications have enjoyed widespread usage only on “high-end” Smartphone devices such as APPLE'S iPHONE. The “lower-tier” and “mid-tier” cellular devices generally cannot use these applications because they lack the requisite graphics capability or have limited processing power. These cellular devices therefore may use a different “stripped-down” version of the application based on text and/or low-resolution graphics.
In many cases, conventional low and mid-tier cellular devices are capable of communicating messages over a variety of different bearers. For example, most phones can communicate voice over a voice bearer and SMS text messages over an SMS bearer. In some cases, these devices may also be able to communicate messages over the Internet, and thus, send and receive data over an IP bearer. However, the bearer used to send and receive communications in one scenario may not be optimal for all communications in all scenarios.